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HISTORICAL SOURCES

The following resources were compiled by Christopher Richard, who served as Fairhaven’s Tourism Director from 1996 to 2024.

“Every tradition should be tested by comparison with contemporary records. If the two are not in conflict, the oral tradition may be accepted. But if there is discord, the tradition must yield.”
—Henry Worth, 1911

​

BOOKS & BOOKLETS:

  • Antonucci, Thomas and Antonucci, Michael, Lizzie Borden: Did She?. . . or. . . Didn’t She?, Historical Briefs, Inc., Verplanck, NY, 1992.

  • A Two Hundred Year History of the First Congregational Church of Fairhaven, 1794-1994, Jean Campbell, committee chair, First Congregational Church, Fairhaven, MA, 1994

  • Bates, Joseph, The Autobiography of Elder Joseph Bates, Steam Press, Battle Creek, MI, 1868, facsimile edition by Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, TN, 1970

  • Benac, Albert F., ed., Eldred in Print & Recollections of a Fairhaven Artist, self published, Fairhaven, MA, 2007

  • Bernard, Donald R., Tower of Strength, A History of Fort Phoenix, printed by Reynolds-DeWalt Printing, New Bedford, MA, 1975

  • Bernard, Donald R., The Life and Times of John Manjiro, McGraw Hill, NY, 1992

  • Birely, Robert, ed., The Family of Ebenezer Peirce and Charity Hinds of Freetown, Massachusetts, self published, Fall River, MA, 2002

  • Blasdale, Mary Jean, Artists of New Bedford, A Biographical Dictionary, Old Dartmouth Historical Society, New Bedford, MA, 1990

  • Bradford, William, Of Plymouth Plantation, edited with notes by Samuel Eliot Morison, Knopf, NY, 1952

  • Brault, Alyson & Medeiros, Manuel, St. Mary’s Church, Fairhaven, MA, 1983

  • Burns, Cherie, Searching for Beauty: The Life of Millicent Rogers, St. Martins Press, NY, 2011

  • Burt, Merlin D., Adventist Pioneer Places: New York & New England, Review & Herald Publishing Association, Hagerstown, MD, 2011

  • By-Laws, George H. Taber Lodge, A.F.& A.M.

  • Cabral, Stephen L., Tradition and Transformation: Portuguese Feasting in New Bedford, AMS Press, New York, NY, 1989

  • Comisky, Kathleen Ryan, Secrets of Old Dartmouth, 1976

  • Cushing, Muriel Curtis, ed., Philip Delano of the ‘Fortune’ 1621 and His Descendants for Four Generations, General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Plymouth, MA 2002.

  • Dexter, Franklin B., Two Lectures on the History of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, C.D. Waldron estate, printers, Fairhaven, MA, 1919

  • Dias, Earl J., Henry Huttleston Rogers: Portrait of a “Capitalist,” self published, Fairhaven, MA, 1974

  • Dias, Earl J., Mark Twain and Henry Huttleston Rogers: An Odd Couple, Millicent Library, Fairhaven, 1984

  • Dias, Earl J., ed., Mark Twain’s Letters to the Rogers Family, with notes and introduction by the editor, self published, Fairhaven, MA, 1970

  • Early, Richard, ed., Fairhaven Sesquicentennial Program, 1962.

  • Ellis, Leonard Bolles, History of New Bedford and Its Vicinity, 1602 – 1892, D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, NY, 1892

  • Evans, Lenore, et. al., A Patchwork History of Tiverton, Rhode Island, Tiverton Historical Society, Tiverton, RI, 1976

  • Fairhaven High School students, About Our High School, second revision, third printing, Fairhaven, MA, 1979

  • Federal Writers Project, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, Charles E. White and Roger Thomas, eds., American Guide Series, WPA, 1939

  • Gillingham, James L., et al., eds., A Brief History of the Town of Fairhaven, Fairhaven, MA, 1903

  • Glennon, Beverly, Dartmouth, The Early History of a Massachusetts Coastal Town, 2001

  • Goodwin, John A., The Pilgrim Republic, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA, 1920

  • Grant, Frederic D., Jr., Riverside Cemetery, Riverside Cemetery Corp., Fairhaven, MA

  • Grayson, Stan, A Man for All Oceans, Tilbury House Publishing, Thomaston, ME and New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA, 2017

  • Gurney, Judith Jenney, ed., The Jenney Book, John Jenney of Plymouth and his Descendants, Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, MD, 1988

  • Harris, Charles A., Old-Time Fairhaven, Reynolds Printing, New Bedford, MA 1947

  • Harris, Charles A., Old-Time Fairhaven, (Vol. 2) Reynolds Printing, New Bedford, MA 1952

  • Harris, Charles A., Old-Time Fairhaven, (Vol. 3) Reynolds Printing, New Bedford, MA 1954

  • Hemingway, Natalie S., 100 Years of East Fairhaven, MA, Schooling History 1845 – 1945, East Fairhaven Improvement Association, Fairhaven, MA, 2007

  • Hemingway, Natalie S., East Fairhaven (Naskatucket) Massachusetts History, Book 1, self published, Fairhaven, MA, 2010

  • Hemingway, Natalie S., East Fairhaven (Naskatucket) Massachusetts History, Book 2, self published, Fairhaven, MA, 2011

  • Hemingway, Natalie S., East Fairhaven (Naskatucket) Massachusetts History, Book 3, self published, Fairhaven, MA, 2012

  • Hemingway, Natalie Sylvia, North Fairhaven, Massachusetts, Historical Tour, North Fairhaven Improvement Association, Fairhaven, MA 2006

  • Hickok, Ralph, Fairhaven A Lens on History, Fairhaven Heritage Center, Fairhaven, MA, 2009

  • Hubbard, Elbert, Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Business Men, H.H. Rogers, (Vol. 25, No. 5., November, 1909), Roycrofters, East Aurora, NY, 1909

  • Howland, Franklyn, History of the Town of Acushnet, 1907, reprinted by Higginson Book Co., Salem, MA

  • Judd, Lewis S. Jr., Fairhaven, a Descriptive and Historical Sketch, Franklin Engraving, Boston, MA, 1896

  • Knipe, Mabel H., Czar of Fairhaven, Millicent Library, Fairhaven, MA 1980

  • Knipe, Mabel H., Century of Concern, Millicent Library, Fairhaven, MA 1983

  • Knipe, Mabel H., House of Transition, Clement E. Daley Advertising, New Bedford, MA, 1977

  • Knipe, Mabel H., Thee Will Fill It Up, Clement E. Daley Advertising, New Bedford, MA, 1979

  • Knipe, Mabel H., The First Gift, Clement E. Daley Advertising, New Bedford, MA, 1977

  • Knipe, Mabel H., The Girl in the Window, Clement E. Daley Advertising, New Bedford, MA, 1983

  • Knipe, Mabel H., The Story of a Town House, Clement E. Daley Advertising, New Bedford, MA, 1977

  • Knipe, Mabel H., Under a Bushel, Clement E. Daley Advertising, New Bedford, MA, 1983

  • Lash, Joseph P., Eleanor and Franklin, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., NY, 1971

  • Leary, Lewis, ed., Mark Twain’s Correspondence with Henry Huttleston Rogers 1893-1909, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1969

  • Lopes, Myra A., But Then There Was More, self published, Fairhaven, MA 1993*

  • Lopes, Myra A., Captain Joshua Slocum, A Centennial Tribute, self published, Fairhaven, MA, 1994

  • Lopes, Myra A., Captain Slocum’s Life Before and After the Spray, self published, Fairhaven, MA, 1997*

  • Lopes, Myra A., Castle On the Hill, self published, Fairhaven, MA 1998

  • Lopes, Myra A., Look Around You, self published, Fairhaven, MA 1990*

  • Lopes, Myra A., Looking Back, self published, Fairhaven, MA 1991*

  • Lopes, Myra A., Seeing It All, self published, Fairhaven, MA 1992*

  • Lopes, Myra A., The Fairhaven Improvement Association Updated History to 2005, Harbor View Publishing Company, Fairhaven, MA 2005

  • Lopes, Myra A., Pride in Our Past, Harbor View Publishing Company, Fairhaven, MA 2007*

  • Luey, Beth, House Stories: The Meanings of Home in a New England Town, University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, MA, 2017

  • McCabe, Marsha, ed., A Picture History of Fairhaven, Spinner Publications, New Bedford, MA, 1986

  • Mosgrove, Mildred C., The Memorial Church, Fairhaven, MA, 1920

  • Nagakuni, Junya & Kitadai, Junji, translators, Drifting Toward the Southeast, The story of Five Japanese Castaways Told in 1852 by John Manjiro, Spinner Publications, Inc., New Bedford, MA, 2003

  • New Bedford & Old Dartmouth, A Portrait of a Region’s Past, Old Dartmouth Historical Society, New Bedford, MA, 1975

  • Our County and its People, a Descriptive and Biographical Record of Bristol County, Massachusetts, The Boston History Co., Boston, MA, 1899

  • Parr, Ed, The Last American Whale-Oil Company: A History of Nye Lubricants, Inc., 1884-1994, Nye Lubricants, Inc., Fairhaven, MA, 1996

  • Pease, Zeph. W., et al., eds., New Bedford Massachusetts, Its History, Industries, Institutions, and Attractions, Board of Trade, Mercury Publishing Co., New Bedford, MA, 1889

  • Peirce, Ebenezer W., Indian History, Biography and Genealogy: Pertaining to the Good Sachem Massasoit of the Wampanoag Tribe, and His Descendants, Z.G. Mitchell, North Abington, MA, 1878

  • Peirce, Ebenezer W., Peirce’s Colonial Lists, pub. orig. Boston, 1881, repr. for Clearfield Co., Inc. by Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD, 1995.

  • Radcliffe, Jack, I Didn’t Know That!, Lucem Diffundo Publishing LLC, New Bedford, MA, 2001

  • Randall, George L., ed., Taber Genealogy: Descendants of Thomas Son of Philip Taber, Vining Press, printer, New Bedford, MA, 1924

  • Rebello, Leonard, Lizzie Borden Past and Present, Al-Zach Press, Fall River, MA 1999

  • Ricketson, Daniel, The History of New Bedford, published by the author, New Bedford, MA, 1858

  • Roosevelt, Elliott, with Brough, James, An Untold Story, The Roosevelts of Hyde Park, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, NY, 1973

  • Roosevelt, Sara Delano, with Leighton, Isabel and Forbush, Gabrielle, My Boy Franklin, Ray Long & Richard R. Smith, Inc., NY, 1933

  • Savage, James, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, pub. orig. 1860-1862, repr. Genealogical Publishing Co. Baltimore, MD, 1998

  • Slocum, Joshua, Sailing Alone Around the World, facsimile reprint with introduction, Dover Publications, Inc., NY, 1956

  • Slocum, Victor, Capt. Joshua Slocum, The Adventures of America’s Best Known Sailor, Sheridan House Inc., Dobbs Ferry, NY, 1950

  • St. Joseph’s Church, 1905-1930, Fairhaven, MA, 1930

  • Steeholm, Clara and Hardy, The House at Hyde Park, The Viking Press, NY, 1950

  • Tarbell, Ida M., All in the Day’s Work, G.K.Hall & Co., Boston, MA, 1985

  • The Millicent Library, Annual Report, 1968

  • The Presentation of the Samurai Sword to the Town of Fairhaven Massachusetts, published by The Millicent Library, Fairhaven, MA, 1918

  • Thomas, Joseph D. & Avila, Jay, eds., A Picture Postcard History of Fairhaven, Spinner Publications, Inc., New Bedford, MA, 2003

  • Travers, Milton A.. One of the Keys, 1676 – 1776 – 1976: The Wampanoag Indian contribution, Dartmouth Massachusetts Bicentennial Commission, Dartmouth, MA, 1975

  • Travers, Milton A., The Wampanoag Tribute Tribes of Martha’s Vineyard, M.A. Travers, 1960

  • Tripp, Thomas A., The Story of Fairhaven, Fairhaven, MA, compiled 1929

  • Tucker, Donald F., Demanche, Robert & Tucker, Caroline B., A Coastal Schooner Life on Southern New England Waters, Coral Press, Fairhaven, MA, 1999

  • Wakefield, Robert S. and Van Wood, Ralph, Jr., eds., Mayflower Families in Progress: Francis Cooke of the Mayflower and His Descendants For Four Generations, Fifth Edition, General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Plymouth, MA 2000

  • Ward, Geoffrey C., Before the Trumpet, Young Franklin Roosevelt 1882-1905, Harper & Rowe, NY, 1985

  • Worden, Dora Pope, et. al., Genealogy of Thomas Pope and his Descendants, The Republican Press, Hamilton, NY, 1917

  • Wright, Mike, What They Didn’t Teach You About the American Revolution, Presidio Press, Novato, CA, 1999

 

NEWSLETTER:

  • DeLano, George B., ed., Bonnes Nouvelles, the newsletter of the Delano Kindred, Inc., P.O. Box 2635, Duxbury, MA 02331

 

SMALL PAMPHLETS & BROCHURES:

  • Acushnet Cemetery Memorial Record

  • Benac, Albert F. and Demanche, Robert, William Bradford, Artist at the Water’s Edge, Fairhaven, MA, ca. 1996

  • By-Laws of George H. Taber Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, C. D. Waldron, printer, Fairhaven, MA, 1906

  • Dedication of the Memorial Monument to Henry Huttleston Rogers

  • Fairhaven Improvement Association, “Fairhaven, Massachusetts: Striving, Thriving, Rising Fairhaven,” Fairhaven, MA, 1910

  • The Presentation of a Samurai Sword, The Millicent Library, Fairhaven, MA, 1918

  • The Tabitha Inn, Fairhaven, MA, 1908

 

ARTICLES and PUBLISHED & UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS:

  • Author unknown, “Cooke Hill,” undated newspaper clipping from unknown newspaper

  • Author unknown, “Early History of Burial Hill,” Fairhaven Star, August 11, 1888 (this recounts recollections of Ruth M. Boomer.)

  • Author unknown, “Oxford Burial Hill,” undated newspaper clipping from unknown newspaper

  • Author unknown, “Skeletons Unearthed,” Fairhaven Star, November 15, 1902

  • Author unknown, “Identity Probably Solved,” Fairhaven Star, December 27, 1902

  • “Account of the Raid of 1778 by Elijah Macomber, born May 14, 1754” as recorded by Henry H. Crapo, 1839, published in Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches, Number 23, New Bedford, MA, 1909

  • “A Home for Spouter Inn,” The Bulletin, Old Dartmouth Historical Society and Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA, Winter, 1954-55

  • Bernard, Donald R., Unpublished scripts for tours of Fairhaven and New Bedford, Spring & Summer, 1992, furnished to the Office of Tourism by Anne Bernard

  • Birely, Robert, Unpublished research notes relating to Joshua Slocum, the family of Ebenezer Pierce and the Oxford neighborhood

  • Braga, David, “Hell Hound Rogers or The Great Town Benefactor: Who Was Henry Huttleston Rogers,” Fairhaven, MA, 2016

  • Butow, R.J.C., “A Notable Passage to China, Myth and Memory in FDR’s Family History,” Prologue, National Archives and Records Administration, Vol. 31, No. 3, Fall 1999

  • Cabral, Stephen L., PhD., “Feast of Our Lady of Angels,” publishing history unknown, ca. 2005

  • Cromwell, Charles E. “Nimrod Activity in Buzzards Bay, War of 1812,” Fairhaven, MA, 2000

  • Darden, Genevieve M., “Slocum Was No Sailor,” Yankee, June, 1961

  • Darden, Genevieve M., “The Annual New England Tour of the 7th Day Adventists,” Yankee, July, 1960

  • Dawson, Jeffrey R., “The Bells of Fairhaven,” three parts in The Beacon, Fairhaven Historical Commission, 1975, 1976

  • Gifford, Preston W., Jr., “The Delano Connection” columns, VIP FOCUS, newsletter of the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historical Sites with support from the Hyde Park Historical Association, Hyde Park, NY. beginning Dec., 1993

  • Gillingham, James L., “Whaleships, Shipbuilding and Their Owners in Fairhaven” manuscript of talk, 1922, collection of Old Dartmouth Historical Society, New Bedford, MA

  • Hathaway, Caroline W., “Arthur Hathaway and His Immediate Descendants,” Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches #31, New Bedford, MA, 1910

  • Hathaway, Russell Jr., “Cooke’s Body Badly Wanted,” newspaper clipping, The Constitution, Atlanta, GA, November 30, 1902**

  • Kaneko, Hisahazu, “The Man Who Discovered America,” American Heritage Publishing Co., New York, NY, December, 1956

  • Kemp, Z. Willis, Diary, 1887-1888, Millicent Library Collection

  • McNaughten, Cynthia, Unpublished research notes

  • Parker, Grace M., “A Floating Home, Builder of La Liberdade at Work on the Spray,” Republican Standard, New Bedford, MA, November 28, 1891

  • Potter, Mabel L. “History of Sconticut Neck,” unpublished manuscript, written for the Roundabout Club, 1945

  • Richardson, George H., letter to the editor, Fairhaven Star, November 22, 1902

  • Smith, Donald S. “Sconticut Neck and Its Indian Past,” unpublished manuscript, copyright 1992

  • Tripp, George H., “The Town of Fairhaven in Four Wars,” Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches #6, New Bedford, MA, 1904

  • Wood, Edmund, “William Bradford,” Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches #26, New Bedford, MA, 1909

  • Worth, Henry B., “Early Land Owners of Fairhaven Village,” Morning Mercury, New Bedford, MA, Aug. 16 – Sept. 13, 1913

  • Worth, Henry B., “Oxford Village,” Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches #43, New Bedford, MA, 1915

  • Worth, Henry B., “Popes,” unpublished manuscript, collection of Old Dartmouth Historical Society, New Bedford, MA, undated

  • Worth, Henry B., “Report of the Historical Research Section,” Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches #32, New Bedford, MA, 1911

  • Worth, Henry B., “Ten Ancient Homes,” Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches #3, New Bedford, MA, 1903

  • Worth, Henry B., “The First Settlers of Dartmouth and Where They Located,” Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches #39, New Bedford, MA

  • Worth, Henry B., “Thomas Taber of Dartmouth” Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches #43, New Bedford, MA, 1915

 

LEGAL DOCUMENTS:

  • Church, Nathan; Terry, Phineas; Bradford, Marlbro; “An Inventory of the Real and Personal Estate of Ruby Allen Widow late of Fairhaven in the County of Bristol deceased,” Recorded February 2, 1836

  • Cooke, John, “Last Will and Testament,” witnessed by Aaron Savory and Thomas Taber, November 9, 1694, Proved April 16, 1696

  • Cooke, Sarah; Hathaway, Arthur; & Taber, Thomas, “A True Inventory of the Estate Goods & Chattels of John Cooke late of Dartmouth Deceased,”

  • Huttlestone, Rhoda, “Last Will and Testament,” witnessed by Stephen Merrihew, Joseph Tripp and Paul Spooner, September 11, 1841, Proved June 7, 1842

  • Gibbs, William L.B.; Allen, Rufus; Fish, Reuben; “Inventory of the Estate of Rhoda Huttlestone late of Fairhaven,” January 31, 1842, Recorded June 7, 1842

  • Town of Fairhaven Annual Reports, Reports of the School Committee, Reports of the Millicent Library, at Office of Town Clerk and/or Millicent Library Archives.

  • Wood, William, “Will and cocidil,”  witnessed by Lewis Taber, Ephriam Davis, Bartholomew Taber, May 14, 1773, presented July 6, 1778

 

MAPS:

 

WEBSITES & ONLINE ARTICLES:

 

*More recent research has turned up inaccuracies and errors in these books and they should not be relied on for historical research.
**This sensationalistic 1902 newspaper article has little basis fact, containing both historical errors and fabrication.

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